The Dallas City Council officially began deliberations about next year’s $1.1 billion bond program on Wednesday, and dozens of residents came to City Hall to advocate for the allocation of more bond money toward housing initiatives.
Community Bond Task Force (CBTF) chair Arun Agarwal presented the task force’s bond recommendations to the council, which were finalized last month, as reported by The Dallas Express. The CBTF’s top priorities were streets and parks, per Mayor Eric Johnson’s direction, recommending $375 million for the former and $350 million for the latter. The CBTF also recommended that $25 million in bond funds be spent on housing.
Dallasites filled the chambers, with more than 130 people registered to speak before the council members. Several of the speakers were affiliated with the Dallas Housing Coalition, which has argued that at least $200 million in bond funds needs to be directed toward housing.
Other speakers supported the CBTF’s recommendations, especially the funding for parks and trails. In his State of the City address last week, Mayor Johnson made note of the “loud voices who believe the proposed parks allocation should be cut in favor of more taxpayer-supported housing.”
He argued that the “government is simply not good at playing the role of a housing developer” and should instead ease regulations to make building homes easier for the private sector. Mayor Johnson was not present for Wednesday’s briefing.
Agarwal made clear that his job was to present the task force’s recommendations, not lobby for any particular interests. Furthermore, he said the task force’s process in determining its recommendations included an unprecedented amount of public input.
He said the CBTF recorded more than 400 comments in favor of spending on parks and recreation, with most of the comments supporting specific projects.
The funding allocation recommendations made by the CBTF are as follows:
- Streets and transportation — $375 million
- Parks and recreation — $350 million
- Public safety facilities — $88 million
- Flood control and storm drainage — $75 million
- Economic development — $73 million
- Cultural arts facilities — $59 million
- Libraries — $28 million
- City facilities — $26 million
- Housing — $25 million
Agarwal said recommending the largest allocation be set aside for streets came as a result of community feedback. He noted that the CBTF’s recommendation does include funding for housing and that there were housing elements to the proposed economic development projects. Agarwal said all three of the economic development projects included in the recommendation incorporate workforce housing.
He added that the task force recommends a “three-pronged approach” to housing, which includes “affordable housing” for both homeowners and renters along with “permanent supportive housing” for people experiencing homelessness.
City staff also presented their recommended bond allocations on Wednesday, which differed significantly from the task force’s recommendations. Staff recommendations, delivered by Office of Bond and Construction Management director Jenny Nicewander and Assistant City Manager Robert Perez, were as follows:
- Streets and transportation — $532 million
- Parks and recreation — $225 million
- Public safety facilities — $88 million
- Housing — $70 million
- Flood protection and storm drainage — $50 million
- Cultural arts facilities — $49 million
- City facilities — $44 million
- Economic development — $30 million
- Library facilities — $11 million
Council members had mixed reactions to both Agarwal’s presentation and staff’s. Council Member Adam Bazaldua (District 7) was expressly unhappy with the recommendations of the CBTF, saying he was disappointed the task force seemingly did not take into consideration the initial input of the council.
He noted that council members had initially suggested $150 million for housing on average — significantly more than the recommendations of both the task force and City staff. However, Agarwal then noted that only seven of the 15 council members responded to the task force’s requests for input, which were sent to council members before the CBTF hosted any public outreach meetings with the people of Dallas.
Bazaldua also took issue with the proposed priorities and claimed Mayor Johnson’s messaging on the issue has been mixed. He argued that investing in Dallas’ parks makes little sense if the streets are in such poor condition that someone could blow a tire on their way to a park and if housing is so expensive that middle- and lower-income residents cannot afford to live in the city where the parks are.
Council Member Chad West (District 1) said he disagreed with the “housing vs. parks” dichotomy, believing that both are important priorities. However, he noted that recommendations for spending on parks include specific projects, while housing proponents largely advocate for more spending on housing without specifying the projects that should receive those dollars.
The City Council will continue to refine the bond program over the next few months. It has still not yet been determined whether the City will hold the bond election in May or November.
The CBTF chose not to weigh in on when the election should be held, opting to leave that decision to the council members. On Wednesday, Council Member Cara Mendelsohn (District 12) advocated for holding the election in November. The last day to call for a May election is February 14.
